A lot of the buzz today was around the Orioles hiring Buck Showalter as manager.

As expected by the WNST staff, mostly from our own Glenn Clark, the Orioles did this one day before the initial full Ravens practice at McDaniel College on Friday.

And then, the Orioles management must have felt that Showalter’s hire was garnering enough attention. We knew it was going to happen, but we didn’t feel like the Orioles were going to beat at it some more and pound it on us Baltimore fans.

So of course, what did they do?

Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Andy MacPhail “huddled up” and said, “Hey people aren’t turning their heads. We have to do something else.”

So hours after the Showalter hire, the Orioles shipped third baseman Miguel Tejada to the Padres around 4:30 PM for minor league pitching prospect Wynn Pelzer.

And while this wasn’t the biggest trade going down of the day(Astros ace Roy Oswalt was traded to the Phillies for J.A. Happ and others, Marlins INF Jorge Cantu went to Texas for two Double-A pitchers, Nationals reliever Matt Capps may be packing his bags for Minnesota), this certainly is news here in Baltimore showing that the Orioles management is getting things rolling.

Which way though is yet to be seen.

The Orioles had talks with the Cardinals early this morning about moving Tejada, to either put him at shortstop instead of Brendan Ryan or at third base instead of a scrappy hitter like Felipe Lopez.

The Padres meanwhile sit atop the NL West this year(3.5 games ahead of the Giants), and are one of the surprise teams out there, given their struggles from a year ago.

Bringing in a veteran hitter like Tejada, and one who has made the move to third base productively, is certainly a valuable addition to the team.

“This move was made because we feel it makes us better,” Padres GM Jed Hoyer told the Associated Press. “It gives us a player in several positions and it gives us a veteran leader.”

He is a guy known for his plus-fastball, but since being taken in the 9th round of the 2007 draft, the former closer at South Carolina has been inconsistent, has a tendency to walk guys, and has seen his velocity drop each year in the minors.

He can hit as high as 97 MPH on the gun, and also has a good slider and a change-up that could be effective given his velocity if he fine-tunes it.

And on top of all this, the Orioles sent in excess of a million dollars to help the Padres clear the rest of Tejada’s 6-million dollar contract.

A former starter, Pelzer would appear to have a better psyche and makeup to be a reliever. The Padres saw this as well at times.

Pelzer was 6-9 for San Diego’s Double-A affiliate, San Antonio, this year with a 4.20 ERA and a WHIP of 1.66. Not exactly the best numbers in the world.

Pelzer will fit right into the other question marks most likely at Double A Bowie, including the likes of Steve Johnson, who the Orioles got in a trade last year with the Dodgers for George Sherrill.

What this really does is give the other piece of the Sherrill trade, Josh Bell, his chance to shine.

Bell has already been with the big league club twice this year in two different stints. He likely will be with the team the rest of the way, with rosters expanding in a month.

And now, through two trades of Tejada to the Astros and the Padres over the last several years, the Orioles have brought in:

Matt Albers,

Troy Patton

Luke Scott

Dennis Sarfate

Michael Costanzo

Pelzer.

As of now, Costanzo is the only one of the six not still with the Orioles.

Tejada was deeply discouraged to be leaving this team yet again, but he is happy to be back in a pennant race.

“It’s a good chance at being in the playoffs,” Tejada told the AP before tonight’s game against KC. “And that’s always good.”

And who knows, with Tejada only on a one-year deal at the moment, he could very well be on borrowed time with the Padres, and back with the Orioles a third time next winter.

And Tejada told Ghiroli that idea isn’t out of the possibility.

“I’ll always be interested in coming back here.”

“I love it here. In my heart, I’m one of the Orioles.”

We could be hearing more of these stories the next couple of days with guys maybe like Ty Wigginton, Jeremy Guthrie, Kevin Millwood, Luke Scott, and Will Ohman maybe following Tejada out of Baltimore.

Tune into WNST and WNST.net over the next couple days as we keep track of the Orioles’ attempts at rebuilding-and trying to top the Ravens in the area while doing it. WNST-We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports!

The Orioles may have only two wins since the All-Star Break, but they’ll be getting a Wynn on Thursday night.

Multiple outlets are reporting third baseman Miguel Tejada has been dealt to the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league pitcher Wynn Pelzer. The 24-year-old is 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in 22 games for Double-A San Antonio.

Tejada signed a one-year, $6 million deal to return to Baltimore in January but will now compete in a pennant race for the first-place Padres. The 36-year-old hit .269 with seven home runs and 39 RBI in 97 games for the Orioles.

The deal is pending league approval, indicating the Orioles will likely pay a portion of Tejada’s remaining salary to acquire the right-handed Pelzer from the Padres system.

With Tejada being dealt, third baseman Josh Bell will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to presumably become the everyday starter at third base. Bell is hitting .263 in 19 at-bats for the Orioles this season in two brief stints in Baltimore.

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It’s a Happy Thursday for me because the Bowie Baysox are celebrating “The Dude” tonight at Prince George’s Stadium. And I’m sure all other “Big Lebowski” fans are with me in thinking “Who better to celebrate???” (Edit from GMC: Video VERY MUCH NSFW.)

I’m not particularly worked up about a failed conditioning test. I am a BIT more worked up about the thought that we’ll have to worry about Terrence Cody’s weight/condition for the next few years.

I’m sure there are others (John Harbaugh comes to mind) that are even more concerned about it. Having Haloti Ngata give him a nickname like “Cheeseburger” doesn’t exactly bode well. Of course, it’s not like they didn’t know what they were getting when they picked him in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft. It’s also not like the nickname doesn’t fit.

If I was more of a comedian, I’d have a better “hopefully he’ll be our Cheeseburger in Paradise” Jimmy Buffett-type joke to use here. Instead, I’ll opt to offer a picture of the Boston Blackie Burger from Blackie’s in Chicago-a spot I visited for the first time in my life on the 4th of July. It’s a winner…

There were reports around the time of the NFL Draft that Kindle may suffer from narcolepsy and ADD, and had fallen asleep during meetings while he was with the Longhorns. We hadn’t necessarily heard that sleepwalking was an issue; but there is certainly at least a CHANCE it’s true.

If so, it’s probably a less concerning explanation than some other potential explanations that had been thrown around. We won’t know what REALLY happened until Sergio Kindle is able to talk to the media-and even then there will be some who will still wonder exactly what happened last week in Austin.

I understand that they’re going to say the right thing here; but John Harbaugh said on Monday in the lobby of the Westminster Best Western that he was “looking forward to seeing (Gaither) today.”

Maybe the team didn’t require Gaither to report to Camp early because of his foot injury, but Coach Harbs certainly suggested that he was expecting to see Jared on Monday. Could be a simple miscommunication, could be that the head coach wanted Jared in earlier in the week because he missed OTA’s and is expected to play a different position this year.

The reality is that it doesn’t really matter. Gaither’s in Camp, and as long as he’s on the practice field tomorrow-everything is fine. If he’s still battling the foot problem tomorrow, there will be one more recent drama the team will be dealing with.

You know, because they needed another distraction. Remember when they were having a fairly quiet offseason???

As far as “T-Sizzle” is concerned, it will be interesting to see what he looks like on the practice field as well. As far as defensive improvement is concerned, it is clear that all of it surrounds what type of season Suggs has, especially considering the help that was supposed to come on the pass rush from Sergio Kindle now may well not be there.

I’m finding it hard to find much of anything else to say about Ed Reed right now. He can be as mad as he wants to be at Mike Preston or anyone else in the Baltimore media; but everyone heard his comments-and no one forced a microphone in front of his face in any of his radio interviews; including the first one he did July 2 with us that started this ball rolling.

I’ll leave it alone for now.

The Ravens are off today as they hold an “administrative day” with veterans now in the house. They’ll put the pads on and his the field at McDaniel College for the first full team practice of camp tomorrow morning at 8:45. Luke Jones will keep you updated at the bottom of every hour with Drew Forrester, Thyrl Nelson and Nestor Aparicio.

Jeremy Guthrie was actually pretty good last night. It probably won’t make you feel much better, but it happened. I’d like to think that it would improve his value at the Trade Deadline, but I saw what the Arizona Diamondbacks got for Dan Haren. Dan Haren is better than Jeremy Guthrie. The market just isn’t in the Orioles’ favor.

Despite Guthrie, you don’t want to look at the numbers-which include a combined 0-8 with 2 K’s and 5 LOB from Luke Scott and Adam Jones. Instead, look at Cameron Russell from Guyism. We’ll re-group after that…

Which means you’ll have to wait to see Zach Britton; not that you would have necessarily canceled your Saturday night plans to see him pitch anyway.

Clearly the Birds are hoping their roster decisions will be made for them with the trade deadline. Should they figure out a way to deal Guthrie (or Kevin Millwood), they could bring up Britton (or Chris Tillman) to replace them in the rotation. Should they deal Will Ohman or Mark Hendrickson, they could move Bergesen into the bullpen and move one of the others back into the rotation.

The problem with all of this is that I’m not even sure Andy MacPhail is going to be able to trade ANYONE. Guthrie is the best chip, but this is a year where the pitching market is top-heavy (Cliff Lee and Dan Haren already dealt, Roy Oswalt available); meaning the value for the secondary market is lessened. There have been years where Jeff Suppan and/or Sidney Ponson were the best pitchers available. If this was that type of the year, the market for Guthrie would be better.

The Birds will be lucky to get ANYTHING for Millwood; and the rest of their chips (Ty Wigginton, Miguel Tejada, Julio Lugo, Cesar Izturis, Ohman, Hendrickson) aren’t going to get them much more than a B-level prospect or player to be named at best.

The only real hope they have to get something is Luke Scott, who despite a tough night last night has been hot recently. The Orioles aren’t going to get a lot for him, but they might be able to get SOMETHING-which is more than they could get for much of anyone else.

-The O’s head to Kansas City to face the Royals tonight; with Brian Matusz going against Kyle Davies. First pitch from Kauffman Stadium is on MASN at 8:10pm. There’s no reason the Orioles couldn’t win this game…but I’ll pick KC. Sean O’Sullivan, Zack Greinke and the great Bruce Chen are scheduled to finish the weekend against Jake Arrieta, Bergesen and Millwood. With a mircale, they’ll split.

-Soren Petro from 810 WHB in Kansas City joined Drew this morning on “The Morning Reaction” to preview the Royals series. If you missed it, make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net to check it out. Other guests included:

Jerry Crasnick (ESPN.com)-who discussed the trade deadline, as well as surprising teams in baseball

Which you would know if you heard my “Cheap Shots From The Bleachers” segment this morning on AM1570 WNST. It’s in the Audio Vault if you missed it.

Apparently Lee MacPhail had told Gentile that he would have gotten $5,000 more if he had won the RBI title-which Greg Couch thinks Andy MacPhail should offer to pay him as a kind gesture. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

As a kind gesture from myself to Jim Gentile, I will offer pictures of Daniela Freitas. (Thanks Busted Coverage/Totally Crap!)

Technically they have THREE all-conference selections, as Torrey Smith was named as both a receiver AND specialist. As I was reminded yesterday-Virginia Tech only had ONE all-conference selection (Ryan Williams), so take that Hokies!

The problem is that beyond these two, this Terrapins team has as many question marks as my Chapel Hill Elementary School 2nd grade English class. Of course, I rarely paid attention in my 2nd grade English class-as I spent more time paying attention to my “girlfriend” Michelle Hensley. Anyone know how she’s doing?

The joke I missed here was that Maryland only had two more wins than Chapel Hill last year. Damn! Sorry everyone…

I remind you that it’s “in football” because it isn’t surprising to see the Tribe come back to Byrd Stadium. Now if Gary Williams were to invite them back to Comcast Center after what happened last year, I’d be absolutely stunned. In fact, I’m a little surprised Gary doesn’t have a “no-fly” zone for W&M over College Park entirely.

Maryland regularly plays one FCS (former 1AA) per year; and they have Morgan State this year, Towson next year, and Rhode Island in 2013. This year’s other non-conference games are Navy, West Virginia and Eastern Michigan; next year’s are Notre Dame, West Virginia and (I believe) Temple.

I stopped by CAA Media Day yesterday, and I have to admit that the oatmeal raisin cookies and potato chips at M&T Bank Stadium were DELICIOUS.

It’s hard to pick Rob Ambrose’s Tigers anything BUT last considering the year they’re coming off and the strength of the CAA; so I doubt they’re particularly disappointed.

As a consolation prize, I offer a photo of Katherine Jenkins. (Thanks Don Chavez!)

And finally, I leave you with this.

I know I already named a “Greatest Song of All Time This Week” this week (“Cornbread” by Dave Matthews Band), but I’m sure there’s been a week where I forgot to name one; so I’m naming another. Hey, it’s my blog. Enjoy “Shutterbug” by Big Boi from Outkast…

It’s a Happy Friday for me because despite the fact that I have to go to the cesspool that is Washington DC to do it, but I AM going to see Dave Matthews Band tonight.

With DMB taking off next summer, I’m planning on it being 24 months until I can see them again. I no longer consider myself to be some sort of obsessed Dave Matthews fan, but I HAVE seen them just about 50 times in my life. So as far as tonight’s show at Nationals Park is concerned, I’d like to request a few tunes for the band to play before they take this hiatus. I’ll limit it to three requests.

First, “Louisiana Bayou” would be great even without Robert Randolph…

Second, “Seven” was the best song on Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King. I’ve yet to see them play it, as Barry Aparicio and I wandered in about 3 songs late to Camden, New Jersey last September…

And it’s a long shot; but if there’s ANY chance of it happening; I’d absolutely LOVE to hear “So Right” tonight…

In the meantime, Kevin Millwood was once again terrible in the first inning, the Orioles offense did NOTHING (including an 0-8 from Felix Pie and Miguel Tejada at the top of the lineup) and there was little or no effort at any point during the game.

Carl Pavano would probably run away with the Cy Young Award if he got a few more games against the Orioles this year.

Ugh.

The sad part is that I looked at the Twinkies’ lineup before the game (without Justin Morneau obviously) and thought to myself, “this is a totally beatable team. They just benefit from playing in the AL Central.”

The flip side that we don’t want to really admit is that the Orioles COULDN’T take advantage of the AL Central. They’d be in last place there too.

You know what I haven’t mentioned in awhile? It really sucks to be an Orioles fan these days.

And with that in mind, I’d like to congratulate Rick Kranitz on his first ever “Apologist of the Morning” award, as selected by “The Great Arbitrator” Drew Forrester…kinda.

“Yeah you know I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but you know, you get frustrated. Especially when Kevin’s been on the mound, crazy things have happened when he pitched. And he was on a pretty good roll on the time, it was reaction, shouldn’t have happened.”

“Crazy things have happened” when Kevin Millwood has pitched, huh? Crazy things like the dude not being able to get anyone out in the first inning?!?!?

The fact is-Gary Darling DID get the call wrong at first base. BUT-there was absolutely no reason for Ty Wigginton (and then Juan Samuel) to lose their minds the way they did, other than the fact that they both play for the Orioles-which is the type of slow torture I wouldn’t wish on much of anyone.

If you haven’t seen the video yet-here it is courtesy of MASN and DailyMotion…

I mean, there are PLENTY of other things you could be doing with your time this summer. You could go to Pier Six Pavilion tomorrow night like I am (with my parents) and check out the Beach Boys, or you could even go to the movies. I mean, “Ramona and Beezus” opens this weekend. How could you miss that?!?!?

The point is-nothing good is happening here. There’s just no reason for you to be in a rush to get back to this mess. If today you decided that you wanted to go to Dewey Beach instead of Charm City; no one would be resentful towards your decision.

As far as who would be sent down if Brian were to be called up today? I’ll say Matt Albers or Scott Moore. Make sure you’re signed up for the WNST Text Service, as we’ll send out the info as soon as it’s available.

-Game 2 of the 4 game set between the Birds and the Minnesota Twins is tonight at OPACY. First pitch between Brian Duensing (who replaces Nick Blackburn) and Jeremy Guthrie is at 7:05pm; and the game can be seen on MASN. I’ll take the Twins-mostly because they’re playing the Orioles. The other pitching matchups this weekend are Scott Baker vs. Brian Matusz tomorrow and Kevin Slowey vs. Jake Arrieta Sunday.

-Did you miss Twins color analyst Bert Blyleven on “The Morning Reaction” today on AM1570 WNST? Yes, we invited him on DESPITE the fact that he was on the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates team. You can hear it in the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net. Other guests this morning were Bowie Baysox SS Greg Miclat and NBCSports.com “HardballTalk” MLB writer Craig Calcaterra. Both are in the Audio Vault as well.

-Juan Samuel is still the manager. Buck Showalter is still unemployed. Just in case you were wondering.

-Does anyone want to man up and admit that this was you? It’s fine by me. Actually an impressive time! (Thanks Busted Coverage!)

Given the fact that the Ravens acquired Walt Harris and Travis Fisher this offseason and Prince Miller is going to compete as an undrafted free agent; it seemed unlikely that Cary Williams would end up making the roster anyway.

He’ll still have the chance to make it, and the organization says they were aware this was an issue before they even signed Williams; so it shouldn’t make much of a difference as far as his chances of making the roster are concerned.

If the Ravens do end up letting Williams go-I’d really like for them to consider Mafalda Teixeira. Mafalda appeared on the cover of GQ in some sort of foreign country, and is proof that you don’t need to hate everyone with the last name Teixeira (Thanks Brosome!)…

Me personally, I’m over all of the Ed Reed stuff. I saw the WBAL interview with him saying that the team wouldn’t give him game film to watch. I was unmoved. I don’t know what to make of ANYTHING Ed Reed says.

I wouldn’t be surprised if halfway through Training Camp, Ed just said “you know what…I can’t do it anymore.”

I’m just done with “Ed Reed week” at this point. He’s a goofy dude. I was surprised when he told us 3 weeks ago today that he wanted a new contract; but I let it go after I realized the team wasn’t going to give him a deal. All of the other interviews he’s done since then have just been…well…maybe even goofier.

Don’t forget-the game is Sunday at 4pm at 1st Mariner Arena. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. It’s going to be a great time, and I can’t recommend you head out and root the Mariners on to what would be the 1st indoor football title in Baltimore history.

And again-what else would you be doing this weekend? Watching the Orioles? I didn’t think so…

This is just absolutely awesome. A Harford County kid (Aberdeen to be exact) who as far as I know does NOT root for the Steelers who put in tough years with the Tigers and then on forward to Europe now gets the chance to play in the NBA with what appears to be a guaranteed three year deal. As Gary himself said on Facebook yesterday…

“Today was one of the best days of my life…”

That’s awesome. And hey, you can “like” WNST.net on Facebook or “friend” myself (just search “Glenn Clark”). I’m not quite as cool as Gary Neal, but I DO know soon-to-be TV celebrity and celebrated Perry Hall Gators alum Daniela Pane…

And if you’ve been listening to the “D1scast” weekly (why WOULDN’T you be?), you would know that Patrick has said on multiple occasions that it was very possible Porzel wouldn’t be part of this team this season. Turns out he won’t be part of the team AT ALL moving forward.

The frustrating part here (as I said last night on Twitter-follow us @WNST) is that Porzel (Good Counsel) is CLEARLY talented. He was never going to be an every down RB in the ACC; but he had the potential to be a guy that could make an impact in multiple ways…on the ground, catching the ball out of the backfield, and in the return game.

As I mentioned-I’ll be headed to Pier Six tomorrow night with the great Tom Clark and Karen Clark to see the Beach Boys-and will be equally excited for “Kokomo”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “Be True to Your School.” I’ll be MORE excited for John Stamos-who will be sitting in with the Beach Boys this weekend.

Why will I be MORE excited? Are you kidding? Full House? Jesse and the Rippers?!?!?

It’s a Happy Tuesday for me because after checking out a BUNCH of work at Artscape Sunday; I think I’ve decided what I’m going to purchase. I Twitpic-ed some of these the other day.

Apparently Robert McClintock is originally from Wilmington, Vermont. Somehow he might be even more Charm City than any of the rest of us. I’ll be purchasing BOTH his American Visionary Art Museum and Brewers Hill prints…

And I don’t know too much about Robert Florio, but I know I’ll be picking this piece up from his last game…

Once again, I find myself saying “at least they didn’t bother wasting too much energy in this one.”

Of course, they could have had the decency to get it over quickly-instead of forcing the handful of folks who bought tickets to stick around awhile.

Chris Tillman nearly no-hit the Texas Rangers before the All-Star Game. What a weird weekend that was in Arlington. I’m surprised they didn’t have an earthquake in The Lone Star State themselves instead of it happening in Germantown.

Miguel Tejada and Adam Jones combined to go 0-8 and left a combined 7 men on base. You could have checked the box score (coming up next) to get that info, but we all know I’m going to re-direct you to an attractive gal instead.

Matt Albers and Cesar Izturis were kinda okay last night. So we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice…

Is this the part where we stop praising Juan Samuel for the fact that the players looked like they were playing harder for him? Or do we keep going with that?

The O’s roster will be in flux for the next couple of weeks, with plenty of decisions to be made. Following Scott; the Birds expect to get Mike Gonzalez, Brian Roberts, Kevin Millwood and Matt Wieters back in the semi-near future; and Jim Johnson could return just after that.

Josh Bell figures to be a roster casualty at some point; but others on the team will either have to be traded or released to make room for everyone. There’s a few guys on the team I might even be willing to consider pitching in and helping them pack their bags.

Which was first reported via Twitter by Fanhouse’s Ed Price. I usually try to stick to reporting things like “they’ve got really good paella at Artscape” on Twitter myself (you can follow us @WNST).

Earlier this season, the Orioles gifted the Mets INF Justin Turner-but I doubt they’d be willing to do with Guthrie. I’ve heard Ruben Tejeda’s name thrown around in trade rumors thus far by a few folks. Tejeda is hitting .212 this season with 4 doubles and no home runs. Don’t we already have him on the roster?!?!?

If I’m Andy MacPhail, I’m more than willing to consider any trade offer for Jeremy Guthrie at this point. I’m just also reasonable in my understanding that I’m not fleecing ANY team in MLB for Guthrie.

Unless of course it’s Woody Guthrie; as the ability to trade a man who died 43 years ago would probably be enough to get an impressive trade return. Plus…I mean…he did “This Land Is Your Land”…

And before we move on from the Orioles, a few things worth pointing out…

-The Birds are back in action tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays; as Jake Arrieta faces Matt Garza at OPACY. First pitch on MASN2 is at 7:05pm. Matt Garza looks a lot like Greg Maddux every time he faces the Orioles, so I don’t have too much hope.

-Michelle Obama is going to throw out the first pitch tonight. The Orioles have sent out a bunch of security notes about getting to the stadium early. Do they think people are actually going tonight? I know it’s Jason Berken t-shirt night, but I’m pretty sure that even with heightened security there won’t be too much trouble getting into the stadium.

-If you missed Rays PBP voice Andy Freed (a Towson native) this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST; make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today here at WNST.net to check it out. Also on the show this morning, we took a look around Major League Baseball with Newsday’s Ken Davidoff; and we were joined in-studio by Fearon Wright of the undefeated Baltimore Mariners-as they prepare for the AIFA Championship Bowl Sunday at 4pm against the Wyoming Cavalry at 1st Mariner Arena. They’re both in the Audio Vault as well.

Marc Bulger wore #10 with the St. Louis Rams; but Troy Smith will be wearing that number at McDaniel College. I’m not saying Bulger will be “stalking” the number; but like The Miz told Sheamus last night on WWE Raw (Edit from GMC: Yeah, I watched…and it was actually pretty good last night); “Every beath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you.”

Bulger knows that Troy Smith could be dealt or released before the Monday Night Football opener at The Meadowlands; which would allow him to re-take the Number 10 from the former Heisman Trophy winner.

On the flip side, I don’t think there’s a scenario where Ken Hamlin gets his number back from Dawan Landry. Unless maybe he has a spare DeLorean lying around to offer in exchange…

(Edit from GMC: There was a DeLorean at Artscape. Had Doc Brown showed up and asked me to roll out with him, I would have been GONE…)

A lot of folks were worked up by the comments Joe made about Marc Bulger after his autograph signing this weekend. I wasn’t.

One of the reasons I said I WASN’T over the moon about the Ravens acquiring Bulger was because I didn’t think it was the right thing to do for the team’s chemistry and establishing Flacco as “the guy.” Most NFL players would probably tell you that salary isn’t relevant; but in this case-I don’t think it is EVER okay for a team’s backup QB to be making more money than the team’s established, unquestioned starter.

I know for certain that Joe Flacco, Troy Smith and John Beck had a VERY good working relationship. Does that mean Marc Bulger can’t step in and also be part of that? Not necessarily, but it isn’t a guarantee he will be either. He said the right things in his conference call last week, but this is still a guy who has been a Pro Bowl QB during his career and will bring a ton of pride with him to Owings Mills.

I think things will be fine. As I’ve said before, they’ll be especially fine if Marc Bulger never takes a regular season snap in purple and black. Had Kyle Boller been so fortunate, he’d have been remembered in a much better light in town.

In a related story, before I ever got together with “The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet”, I considered dating Behati Prinsloo (Thanks Totally Crap/Busted Coverage!)…

Oh, and Antwaan Randle El-you’ve played for the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers in your career. I’m glad you didn’t come to Baltimore. It would have been more difficult to root for you than it is to root for the Orioles.

If you missed Rex Snider’s TREMENDOUS chat with the future Hall of Fame QB Saturday night during WNST’s “Curing Cancer One Call At A Time” marathon to raise money for the Cancer Center at Harbor Hospital; make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today to check it out.

I’ve spent the better part of the 2 years since I moved back to Baltimore from Phoenix extolling the virtues of Boldin; who has absolutely TREMENDOUS for the Arizona Cardinals during his career. If you didn’t listen to me, I’d hope you would listen to Kurt Warner. I know I always did.

There are a slew of other interviews from the marathon this weekend in the Audio Vault; including Ravens LB’s Dannell Ellerbe, Tavares Gooden and Jameel McClain; Ravens exec Eric DeCosta, as well as Olympic figure skater Kimmie Meissner, ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, former tennis star Zina Garrison, former Terps guard John Lucas and former Governor of the Old Line State-the great Robert Ehrlich. All of those interviews (and more) are also available in the Audio Vault.

This is BAD news. I knew ticket sales were slow; but having only around 30,000 tickets sold at this point is really dreadful.

It would be okay for there to be empty seats in the upper deck when this game happens next weekend; but to have the majority of the stadium empty would reflect poorly on the city’s hopes to get World Cup matches as part of the USA bid for 2022 (or 2018).

I sat in a mostly empty RFK Stadium to see Team USA face Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier last fall. I’m well aware that not every soccer match in every city is going to be sold out-but some cities have a better soccer pedigree to fall back on. DC is one of them. Baltimore is not at this point. We need to build the evidence that we are. The atmosphere for Chelsea-AC Milan last year started that, but there needs to be more.

An empty stadium to see the UEFA Champions League winner face another major European power will not be compelling evidence that the city is ready for the biggest sporting event in the world. Hopefully there will be an uptick in the next 10 days, but I have a bad feeling here.

This is a great read about how Muhtadi was given a chance to work with Cards DL Darnell Dockett, Minnesota Vikings TE (and former Morgan State Bears star) Visanthe Shiancoe and former Philadelphia Eagles RB Brian Westbrook this offseason thanks to a recommendation from Cardinals strength coach John Lott. It looks it could pay off in Muhtadi getting a real look at making the roster when the team reports to Flagstaff for Training Camp later this month.

I’d really encourage you to read this story today. In fact, if I could encourage you to do any two things today, it would be to 1-read this story; then 2-figure out ways for me to get Caitlin Hixx’s attention (Thanks NextRound.net!)…

Folks whose opinions I value seem to split on exactly what this means as far as Hathaway’s likelihood for staying at UConn. Should he leave UConn, he’d have to give up his spot-which is considered one of the most prestigous gigs for an Athletic Director to get. Should he stick in Connecticut; he’d likely have to wade his way through sanctions (and considering what happened at USC they could well be major) surrounding Jim Calhoun and the Huskies’ basketball program.

It’s certainly a 50-50.

We discuss potential sanctions for a bunch of schools (including North Carolina and Florida) during this week’s D1scast, which is available now in the Audio Vault. A quick plug for my buddy Patrick Stevens-whose site is now JUST D1scourse.com; having got rid of that pesky “Typepad” that made introducing him quite the mouthful.

And finally, I leave you with this.

This week’s “Greatest Song of All Time This Week” is a bit off the map. I hadn’t heard of Chiddy Bang before this weekend; but apparently they blew up thanks to “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory”, a show I will admit to enjoying the time or two I’ve still poked over to MTV. The song is a cover/sample/interpretation(?) of MGMT’s “Kids”…

It’s a Happy Tuesday for me because I’m still basking in a 4th of July weekend trip to Chicago. If you missed any of my very important updates via Twitter/Twitpic (follow us @WNST), here are the most significant highlights…

I was in the Philadelphia airport Saturday morning preparing to fly when I wandered into the closest “Hudson News” stand I could find. I picked up the ProFootballTalk.com/NBC Sports NFL season preview, and flipped to the Baltimore Ravens section to see what I would find. I was a BIT surprised…

I forwarded that picture to my parents…but I’m not sure they were impressed. In fact, I think the response was “when are you going to get a real job?”

When I finally got settled in the Windy City Saturday afternoon; our first stop was an early dinner at Lou Malnati’s. I was a little confused as to why we needed to get to dinner no later than 5pm…right up until I saw maybe 100 folks waiting in line for deep dish pizza after we had been there for a few minutes. We ordered a Chicago-Style Classic and a 312 Brew from Goose Island Brewing Company. I wasn’t disappointed in either…not even a little bit.

We then hit the Hancock Tower. Apparently the Sears Tower is bigger, but their observatory isn’t as far up as the one at the Hancock. I have no comment, as math was never something I was particularly good at. What I do know is that this view was pretty freaking cool…

Saturday night was a stop at the Second City comedy club. If you’re not familiar, this is the improv factory that produced the likes of Chris Farley, John Belushi, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey and the majority of the current/former stars of SNL. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures. My bad.

I thought the purpose of going to Taste of Chicago this weekend was to see Robert Randolph and The Family Band Sunday afternoon. While that was still the major highlight; I knew my experience in Grant Park (you’ll remember Grant Park was the large area where Barack Obama made his acceptance speech on Election Night in 2008) was going to be outstanding when this was the image that greeted me…

And that was BEFORE I hit the Harry Caray’s booth. I’ve had potato chips before, but I’ve never had THESE…

These ended up getting some cajun seasoning and hot sauce as well; and were REALLY.FREAKING.GOOD. Another highlight? The watermelon at the Dominick’s stand was BIGGER THAN MY FREAKING HEAD…

After wandering through Taste of Chicago for a few hours and adding on 4-6,000,000 calories; we hit up Millenium Park. The place has some really cool artwork, including this mirror-art thingy that probably has a much better name than what I’m giving it right now…

The Independence Day festivities wrapped up at Navy Pier, where I just so happened to bump into Ravens DT Brandon McKinney; who let me know that he had been cleared (back) to fully return to practice and would be ready to go when the team reports to McDaniel College for Training Camp.

Because I mentioned Motown and I’m gonna be depressed by talking about the O’s, let’s start today with “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5…

Speaking of which-Hey Kevin Millwood that started the season looking like a pitcher that might be able to get the Orioles something at the trade deadline: I WANT YOU BACK.

We’ll get back to Millwood shortly, as it wasn’t ONLY his fault yesterday. In fact, despite the fact that Millwood pitched only 1 inning, the Orioles actually came back to take the lead. Mark Hendrickson was particularly brutal after that, and the nine runs the Orioles managed to score didn’t much matter-although it is nice to see Jake Fox get another home run for a first baseman.

(Edit from GMC: I’m VERY excited for Saturday night’s AIFA Eastern Conference Championship Game between the Baltimore Mariners and Harrisburg Stampede at 1st Mariner Arena. I’ve always been an exception to the rules though.)

But everyone seems to agree that he has moved past Eric Wedge and emerged as the front-runner. With no offense to Showalter, Wedge or anyone else involved in the process; this isn’t exactly like being the frontrunner in the Kentucky Derby. This is probably a little more like being the frontrunner in a race called by Rick from Reisterstown.

I have no idea what to make of this whole managerial search. It seemed like the team would be wise to let Juan Samuel finish things out this season and then make a hire after going through the full process in the offseason. Now it looks like they’re going to hire “The Best of What’s Around” (I’m going to see Dave Matthews Band Friday night, please forgive me) now.

I’d be surprised, but this is the Orioles we’re talking about. But don’t worry, Andy MacPhail is in charge and NOT Peter Angelos. Peter Angelos is totally out of the process, remember?

Remember?

Meanwhile-while the other candidates were busy being managerial candidates; Rick Dempsey was singing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. God bless him…

The Birds were NEVER going to fleece a team in a Kevin Millwood trade before July 31; but there was at least a hope that they could get something more than the Chris Ray they gave up for him…or a player that had a CHANCE to be more than Chris Ray.

Given the way he’s fallen off the face of the planet and now could end up on the DL, hopes of that are starting to slim.

Millwood was the team’s best chance to get SOMETHING before the Trade Deadline. Ty Wigginton, Miguel Tejada, Luke Scott, Will Ohman, Cesar Izturis and even Hendrickson could all be dealt, but none are being dealt for anything significant. Tejada is the team’s 2nd best hope-but Tejada now says he wants to stick around in Charm City.

With no offense to Miguel, but I doubt that’s because he’s EXCITED about losing in Baltimore. My guess is that it’s because he realizes he’s unlikely to be an every day player for a team with a real chance at winning the World Series.

Of course, with Tillman throwing another gem (this follows up on his earlier no hitter this season) at AAA; there will be more clamoring for Tillman to get called up. Should Kevin Millwood end up on the DL, there’s almost no chance he DOESN’T get called up.

I don’t think any of us will be as excited about it this time, but the organization will eventually have to find out if Tillman is anything more than a 4A guy.

Before we move on from the Orioles, a reminder that they’re back in action tonight against the Detroit Tigers again at Comerica Park. First pitch on MASN between Jake Arrieta and Armando Galarraga is at 7:05pm.

Look…there’s nothing else on. Not even “Glee.” Just watch the game. None of the rest of us want to do it either, we just don’t have much of a choice.

Now we enter the part of Crabs and Beer today that I absolutely like the least. This is a TERRIBLY tragic tale in a city full of terribly tragic tales.

This one will hit home, especially considering there was a chance Crowder could have ended up getting a scholarship from Gary Williams and playing in College Park.

No matter where his life WAS going, it appears as though he hung out with some guys that were less than savory. Of course, all of the rest of us have hung out with some less than desirables ourselves at one point or another.

My heart goes out to John Crowder’s family and friends, as well as everyone surrounding the athletic department at Mt. Carmel.

I was wandering around Grant Park Sunday in Chi-Town when I saw someone approaching me wearing a Ravens jersey. Excited, I yelled out “Go Ravens!”

I didn’t get the response I was looking for.

The young man was wearing a Steve McNair jersey, and was not a Ravens fan as much as he was honoring a great NFL player on the anniversary of his murder.

For such an open and shut case, it feels as though little closure has come in the year since McNair’s death. I was unmoved by CBS’ investigation last fall that insinuated the Nashville police hadn’t been as thorough in their investigation as they should have been.

Armen Keteyian’s was chocked full of friends of Sahel Kazemi saying she “wasn’t a violent person” and “didn’t have this in her.” I’m not sure how many friends and family members of murder suspects/convicted murderers usually say “Yeah, I always assumed this would happen.”

There isn’t much more to be said, other than very clearly Steve McNair is still missed not only in Baltimore and Nashville, but also throughout the country.

Thus ends the sad part of today’s Crabs and Beer. Back to sports and hot chicks…

I don’t disagree with this AT ALL. In fact, it could end up being THE greatest offseason in franchise history if Anquan Boldin helps hoist the Vince Lombari Trophy in Dallas in the winter.

Clearly the moves made before the Super Bowl win have to be viewed as the best offseason in franchise history; but I’m not sure they’ve ever made a more PERFECT move than acquiring a player like Boldin this year.

They still COULD make it the best offseason in franchise history with one simple move. Just go get Kim Feenstra. (Thanks FHM/Guyism!)

This is awesome. Amongst the players who are committed to playing in this event are Morgan State’s Kevin Thompson, Missouri’s Kimmie English and Ricky Harris-who just finished his career at UMass. The event is VERY similar to the Kenner League at Georgetown, with current and former college standouts from Baltimore highlighting the field.

Thayne Gould put the entire event together at Loyola, he joined Drew Forrester this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST. If you missed it, make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today to check it out.

Will Carroll (Baseball Prospectus) also joined Drew to go around Major League Baseball, and Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network went not only around football-but also around the World Cup with Drew as well. We also replayed Friday’s interview with Ed Reed (we heard someone else was having him on 5 days later…); if you missed ANY of that, check it out in the Audio Vault as well.

There’s simply no question about that. If the Terps don’t show marked improvement (even 7-5 might not be enough for a new athletic director), things are set to change in College Park. The decision to keep Ralph and continue the succession plan with James Franklin was Debbie Yow’s. Another Athletic Director could be given more flexibility to go in another direction.

If there IS a coaching search in the future, I would like to be the first to suggest that the Terrapins consider Sheridyn Fisher… (Thanks Busted Coverage/Coed Magazine!)

And finally, I leave you with this.

While I’m frustrated that he didn’t play it Sunday afternoon; it’s not going to keep me from naming Robert Randolph’s “Walk Don’t Walk” this week’s “The Greatest Song of All Time This Week.” If you haven’t picked up the new disc “We Walk This Road” yet, you’re only hurting yourself.

With the Orioles officially reaching the halfway point of the season on Sunday, the second half of the schedule began much like the first—with a 12-9 loss in Detroit on Monday afternoon.

It’s no secret that much of Baltimore has shifted its attention to the Ravens and the upcoming start of training camp with the Orioles appearing destined to finish with the worst record in franchise history. Whether you choose to persevere through the season’s final three months or tune out in hopes of regaining your sanity after the horrid first half, much needs to be accomplished between now and October—on and off the field.

The most critical question of whether Andy MacPhail and Peter Angelos will commit to significantly improving the roster via free agency and trades in the offseason will linger long after October—and beyond—but in the mean time, a plethora of other issues can be addressed, some by the organization and others by players themselves.

If I had a crystal ball to predict what will unfold over the final three months of 2010, here’s what I’d like to see:

1. A new skipper is hired

This one is a no-brainer, but it’s imperative that the Orioles bring in a guy who truly wants the job and is willing to do the legwork of changing the culture of losing that exists in the clubhouse. It won’t happen by season’s end or even in 2011, but the club needs a dynamic leader.

I’ve championed Buck Showalter as the man, mainly due to his work with the Arizona Diamondbacks during the infancy of the franchise. Showalter, of course, did not stick around long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labor when Arizona won the World Series in 2001, but his obsessive work ethic could hopefully do wonders for the Orioles’ player development.

With MacPhail’s preference for an experienced manager, Showalter might be the man needed to ruffle some feathers, not only at the big-league level but throughout the organization.

2. A true commitment to the international market is made

While most have focused on the Orioles’ inability—or unwillingness—to make improvements through free agency and their poor track record with the amateur draft for the better part of 25 years, the organization continues to abstain from the international market.

The Orioles have opened a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, but far more needs to be done on the international front, both in the Caribbean and the Far East. The club’s sheer number of international scouts pales in comparison to their competitors in the American League East, a simple but poignant indication that the organization is not doing enough to find talent elsewhere in the world.

It won’t fix the franchise alone, but tapping into the international waters instead of wasting $5 million on the Garrett Atkins types of the world every winter is a far better use of resources with a higher potential reward.

As one simple example, Robinson Cano, my choice for Most Valuable Player of the first half, was signed out of the Dominican by the New York Yankees. Talent is out there; it’s up to the Orioles to find and develop it.

3. Do whatever it takes to fix Matt Wieters

The claims of “Mauer with Power” and “Switch-Hitting Jesus” were always ridiculous, but no one—inside or outside of Baltimore—expected Matt Wieters to struggle as he has over the first 600-plus at-bats of his major league career.

It’s not just the .239 average or the lack of power (.344 slugging percentage) this season, but his approach at the plate is undisciplined and his swing is passive, often looking to slap the ball somewhere instead of attacking the baseball when he gets a good pitch to hit.

Many blame Terry Crowley while others will point to the team’s struggles and the overwhelming expectations bestowed upon the young catcher, but Wieters needs help to realize his vast potential.

Whether it’s a new hitting coach, a former Oriole such as Eddie Murray working with him, a demotion to the minors, or the apparition of Charley Lau returning to tinker with his swing, Wieters must get on track if the Orioles are to pull themselves out of this 13-year abyss. Aside from the final month of his rookie season, he’s looked nothing like the future star so many projected him to be.

For the record, I still believe Wieters eventually becomes a good-to-great catcher in the big leagues, but the organization must do everything in its power to help him.

Immediately.

4. The trade pieces perform and are dealt at the deadline

Anyone with delusions that Kevin Millwood, Ty Wigginton, Miguel Tejada, Jeremy Guthrie, or any other veteran would fetch a return comparable to the one the Orioles received for Erik Bedard a few years ago was always setting himself up for disappointment, but these players have a few more weeks to improve their value in hopes of being dealt.

Millwood’s struggles are painfully apparent as the 35-year-old was shelled again on Monday afternoon in Detroit, lasting only an inning while giving up five runs against the Tigers lineup. His 2010 story has transformed from a sympathetic figure (standing at 0-4 despite a 3.26 ERA on May 8th) to one who can’t get anyone out (5.77 ERA after Monday’s start).

Even if MacPhail was unable to find a suitable deal for Millwood at the deadline, there were hopes that Millwood could perhaps fetch a compensatory pick as a Type B free agent—and certain to reject arbitration—but as Millwood’s ERA continues to skyrocket, that likelihood is becoming very unlikely.

Wigginton would appear to have the most value with his recent All-Star selection and the versatility of playing several positions on the diamond, but his hot start feels like a long time ago, and the numbers support it.

Entering Monday afternoon’s game, Wigginton has hit just .218 in 202 at-bats since May 3. For the sake of fetching a better return, a Wigginton hot streak would do wonders by the July 31st deadline.

Tejada might be an attractive option for a team looking for a third baseman or even a short-term answer at shortstop, but his .373 slugging percentage suggests a singles hitter, not the man who once led the league in runs batted in or even the hitter who led the National League in doubles last season. In other words, teams won’t be knocking down the door at the Warehouse to get him.

Guthrie might be the most valuable piece as he’s under control for two more seasons. His 4.64 ERA isn’t sparking by any stretch of the imagination, but a National League team looking for an arm to supplement the back-end of the starting rotation could do far worse than Guthrie.

Of course, the Orioles could elect to hold on to Guthrie because of those two years of control and his positive presence for a young rotation.

Reliever Will Ohman (2.88 ERA) might be another trade candidate, but it’s hard to imagine getting anything more than minor league filler for the lefty specialist.

5. Brian Roberts gets healthy for 2011

The simple act of Brian Roberts taking the field again in 2010 matters very little for a team currently 32 games below .500, but it might be viewed as a symbolic act to show he will be fully-recovered in 2011, the second year of a four-year extension signed 17 months ago.

Roberts is once again taking batting practice in Sarasota, but we’ve heard this story several times already. Surgery continues to be ruled out by all parties, so it’s imperative for Roberts’ back to hold up as we’re now approaching a time frame in which surgery could jeopardize the start of his preparation for the 2011 season.

It’s too late to debate whether it was a good idea to give the then-31-year-old Roberts a four-year extension, so you can only hope the decision to rest and rehabilitate the herniated disc proves to be the right one for his career.

If there’s any long-term risk for Roberts to try to play baseball again in 2010, he should be shut down immediately and given the rest of the season to rest.

Check out Part 2 of what I’d like to see from the Orioles over the season’s final three months later this week.

Comments Off on Enduring the second half: What I’d like to see from the Orioles (Part 1 of 2)

I guess we DO need to address that Millwood went just 5 innings last night, giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits against an Oakland team that’s roughly as capable of hitting as some of my young cousins. Granted, there was unbelievable trouble in the field-but Millwood wasn’t good.

Will it significantly hurt his trade value moving towards July 31? I doubt that. I was never convinced that Andy MacPhail was going to be able to fleece another organization in a Millwood deal, unless somehow Millwood had stunned everyone with a 10-0 start and sub 3 ERA.

There will still be teams who will want a veteran starter to try to help their run to the playoffs. Plenty of teams in fact. Someone is going to give up SOMETHING for Millwood-and I’m guessing it might be a LITTLE bit more than Chris Ray. Not MUCH more, but a little bit more.

Trading Millwood is not going to improve the future of the franchise in Baltimore. But it will get them SOMETHING…hopefully something that matters at least a little bit.

I’m personally hoping we can trade him for Susan Coffey (Thanks Barstool Sports!)…

It was a little funny listening to Juan Samuel say that Scott was going to try to leg it into a triple if it didn’t leave the yard. Funny because we all know Luke Scott isn’t going to be confused with Pete Rose any time soon when it comes to “hustle.”

There’s good news. Felix Pie is apparently going to be ready to go if Scott ends up on the DL. So…did you see the mistake Corey Patterson made last night? Expect more of that soon!

(Edit from GMC: Hopefully not. But I’m way to realistic to be too hopeful.)

Did you miss Nathan this morning with Drew Forrester on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST? Make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net NOW to check it out! Other guests this morning included:

-Great American Champion Joey Chestnut, who gave me some hot dog eating tips ahead of his pursuit of a 4th straight Nathan’s Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest title Sunday in New York.
-Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s “DC Sports Bog”, who re-hashed the John Riggins MASN commercial controversy I stirred up last week.
-Baltimore Blast Coach Danny Kelly, who went around the USMNT and all things World Cup.

A few other O’s-related notes before we move on…

-Congratulations to our pal Steve Melewski, who claimed another “Apologist of the Morning” title today, as selected by “The Great Arbitrator.” I’m still convinced that Brian Matusz is going to have a bright future in Charm City myself; but to say his season hasn’t been “disappointing” is absolute apology.

-The O’s are back in action tonight, trying to wrap up back to back series wins against the A’s. First pitch at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is at 7:05pm, the game can again be seen on MASN2. Trevor Cahill goes for the A’s against Jake Arrieta and the O’s.

As long as “T-Sizzle” has a good season, none of this will matter. If he struggles; his failure to report to Owings Mills will be something that fans and analysts alike will bring up all year.

John Harbaugh clearly wasn’t happy Suggs wasn’t there; but he handled it the best way possible. Suggs should have been at 1 Winning Drive; at least for SOME of the OTA’s. It’s a simple gesture. Maybe he’s doing enough work in Arizona that it won’t matter, but maybe he isn’t. We just don’t know.

I have a pair of tickets for Saturday night’s game at Unitas Stadium in Towson; for the first person that emails glenn@wnst.net with “I want tickets” in the subject.

If you don’t have plans for Saturday night-it’s worth going over and checking out the game. The girls play early evening, followed by the guys. These are the best high school lacrosse players in the country; and they will be stars of the college game for years to come.

I’d be there, but I DO have plans Saturday night. Sadly, nothing more than looking at pictures of Paula Prendes from FHM Spain over at Guyism…

There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes like this: “May you live in interesting times.”

Some believe its origin was actually intended to be a curse, translating to something like: “May the roads you travel be bumpy and dangerous”.

May you live in interesting times.

Interesting…indeed.

These are interesting times for Peter Angelos and the Orioles.

His hand-picked head honcho, Andy MacPhail, has just parted company with a $4.5 million mistake. And no matter what Andy said in the aftermath of the Garrett Atkins departure, I’m sure Peter Angelos doesn’t look down his nose at the $4.5 million the way Andy obviously does — after all, as MacPhail noted, “in today’s economic structure in baseball, $4.5 million isn’t really much to lose”. Well, not when you compare it to the $23 million that Teixeira gets…but what if MacPhail would have used that $4.5 million to sweeten the pie for Adam LaRoche or Adam Dunn or Vlad Guerrero? Suddenly, $4.5 million does matter.

But that’s neither here nor there, now, because Atkins is gone.

How much longer, though, is MacPhail going to hang around?

With Tuesday’s story that Cal Ripken Jr. is still meeting with and talking to both Angelos and MacPhail about a front office position with the club, how much more of this stuff will MacPhail sit through before he packs it in?

He’s already being force-fed a managerial courtesy-interview with Rick Dempsey – by Angelos – and the premise that Andy is in sole control of the organization is starting to look quite wobbly.

And now Ripken is back, sniffing around again about some kind of advisory position that apparently must fit his busy, hectic schedule.

I guess Cal thinks being involved in the front office is like playing tennis on a Wednesday afternoon. It eats up four hours of your day, if you count driving to and from the court, playing for 90 minutes, and then showering afterwards and eating a salad before heading back to the office.

As someone associated with the team said to me about two months ago when the first “Ripken wants to work in the front office” story broke: “The real problem here…is that Cal doesn’t know what he wants to do with the club.”

He doesn’t want to manage. That takes up too much time.

He doesn’t want to run the club: That takes up too much time.

He can’t do anything until his son goes away to college, which is still two years away.

Well, he can do *something*, but it can’t take up much time.

And then you have MacPhail, plugging away at a snail’s pace, trying to rebuild the organization and still make Peter Angelos feel like he’s playing a role in the turn-around.

Say what you will about MacPhail — and there’s an argument whose winter was worse in 2009, his or the St. Louis Rams – but he’s the guy who put “the plan” together and he should be allowed to proceed and inact that plan until it completely succeeds or fails. And even though the team is 23-54 and all they’ve done under MacPhail is lose for three years now, it’s not fair to say “the plan has failed”.

But the plan might fail if Andy’s not allowed to hire HIS manager.

And the plan might fail if Cal Ripken Jr. is given some kind of authoritative role with the club against Andy’s wishes.

Maybe Peter’s right when he says, “You know Andy, it might be a good idea for me to have the final say on this manager thing…you haven’t exactly knocked the 8-ball in the corner pocket with your previous decisons, you know.” And maybe Angelos looks at Ripken the way he always looked at him before. a pseudo cash-cow, who can help bring people to the ballpark, even if Junior is wearing a collar and tie and doing the meet and greet before the game down by the dugout.

The next three months will tell us a lot about Peter Angelos and his thoughts on the organization.

Is he souring on MacPhail and the plan? He can’t possibly be thrilled about writing Garrett Atkins a free check for the next 14 weeks. Rumors persist – and no one has denied them – that MacPhail wanted Brad Komminsk as the interim manager back on June 10 when he canned Trembley and Angelos wanted to give Rick Dempsey his shot at glory as the temporary guy in the dugout. So they settled – a favorite task in the law industry – on Juan Samuel. Sadly, that wipes away any legitimate chance Samuel might have had to interview for the REAL job after Trembley got the boot. And while the team isn’t any better, really, under Samuel, there have been some signs over the last three weeks that Samuel might actually be competent in the dugout. I know this much, just based on the small sample size. I’ll take Samuel over Trembley.

But running around interviewing managers in mid-June while your team is getting shelled 65% of the time isn’t good. These are the days where MacPhail should be burning up the phone lines trying to unload some expendable pieces like Millwood, Guthrie, Wigginton and, even, perhaps Tejada and Luke Scott. When you’re busy interviewing managerial candidates and such, it’s hard to devote the necessary time to making the roster better. Then again, we have Felix Pie, Koji Uehara and Mike Gonzalez coming back and available for the rest of the season. Let the good times roll, I supppse.

This is what you get when you fire the manager in mid-season.

This is what you get when you spend a grand total of $22 million on baseball players in an off-season that probably mandated you spend five times that amount on three quality players.

And this is what you get when the greatest hometown player in Baltimore baseball history wakes up one morning and says “Hey, I think I might want to work for the Orioles now.”

And, of course, this is what you get when you’ve lost for 13 years straight.

You get ALL of this. You get: a mess.

Oddly, these ARE interesting times, despite all the losing and all the friction and all the question marks.

The next three months won’t lack for storylines, that’s for sure. And the biggest issue of all is this: Is Andy MacPhail going to see this endeavor to its end? Or will the owner lose his patience and scrap the three years of sweat equity for another crack at a quick fix, with a Hall of Fame player in tow who can possibly help both on the field and at the gate.

May they all live in interesting times…Angelos, MacPhail, Ripken, Dempsey…each and every one of them.

With the All Star game fast approaching, it is time for the obligatory speculative blog to determine who will and who should represent the Orioles. Despite their four game winning streak, it’s still safe to say a team with a record this pitiful does not deserve an All Star. However, since each team must have at least a single representative at the Midsummer Classic, someone wearing the O’s cap will make the exhibition club.

By the way, why didn’t anyone mention the “each team must have an All Star” rule to Adam Jones? He certainly doesn’t seem aware of this in his omnipresent MASN commercial, in which he talks proudly of “earning the title All Star” while squatting an unimpressive 235 lbs.

Someone on the horrendous 25 man roster had to “earn” the title All Star, Adam. It’s like being the smartest kid to repeat the eighth grade.

Anyway, I wouldn’t look for Jones to repeat as the O’s lone All Star this year. He is on an eight game hitting streak, but his defense has been suspect at times, and he spent most of April and May whiffing at breaking balls. Time to up your squats, Jonesy.

Ty Wigginton was an early season favorite, as he got off to a hot start that nearly makes up for his pitiful 2009. But he has leveled off recently, hitting .266 on the season with no homers in the past month.

A few local writers are pulling for Jason Berken, but he’s a little-known middle reliever on a bad team. He has about as much chance of making the All Star team as you or me.

Miguel Tejada could act like he’s been there before because he’s been there before. Tejada is hitting .287 while making the move to third base. I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see him get the nod, if only for his name recognition.

The Oriole truly deserving the All Star nod is Nick Markakis. When he’s not calling out his underachieving teammates or dining with Peter Angelos, Markakis has been hitting .306 while exhibiting his usual stellar defense in right field. With only 3 home runs on the year, Markakis has not rediscovered his power stroke, but he is walking at a higher ratio than last year, posting a .398 OBP on the season. Most criticism of Markakis is due to the fact that he is a natural number two hitter forced to hit in the number three spot for this undertalented team. Hopefully his fifth season in the bigs will bring him his first of many All Star nods. He’s been one of the only bright spots both on and off the field this season.

While Markakis is the clear choice for the All Star game, a doppleganger “Unstar” game would have several Baltimore Orioles candidates. Here’s a partial list of underachievers.

Garrett Atkins – Gone but not forgotten. Atkins told The Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec, “Taking my [batting practice] and stuff the last month or so, it’s been pretty good. I’ve been driving the ball well. I just haven’t been able to transfer it over to the games.” You hear that, New York Yankees? Atkins is doing great in BP. Now if only he could hit in games.

Mike Gonzalez – An Andy MacPhail offseason pickup who may be the only Oriole to ever get booed in his Camden Yards debut. Last seen giving up home runs in short season A ball for Aberdeen. Seriously.

Brian Roberts – In year one of a four-year $40 million deal, Roberts had only 16 plate appearances in 2010 before going on the long-term DL. He can be seen giving video updates on MASN from local dog parks. Seriously.

Koji Uehara – another waste of money and roster space, Uehara’s most impressive achievement to date is his ability to hop on and off the disabled list. Enjoy ingthe humidity, Koji?